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Aziz Al-Ahmed
Aziz Al-Ahmed is a legendary villainous figure in Izirian history, and features prominently in tales throughout history, even in ''The Legends of Tyrrus, ''in which the Saviours made an uneasy temporary alliance with Aziz at Alatheen. Aziz is an incredibly powerful necromancer, perhaps second only to Zaikerik the Betrayer. Though his exact age or date of birth is unknown, what is known is that Aziz originally arrived at Izero in the Age of Gods, in the century of -25.0. Aziz spent a long time researching Death Magic, but was unable to pierce the veil between the Mortal Realm and the Spirit Realm. It was not until Zaikerik and Nekrus the Runic King achieved this in 6.50 that Aziz was able to return to the world as an undead. Currently, Aziz is the Grand Death Vizier of The Necropolis, an empire of the risen dead based in the many tombs and catacombs of Izir. Though officially the empire is ruled by various risen kings and queens, it is assumed that Aziz pulls the strings behind them. Background The Magus Council of Izero The earliest records of Aziz's existence occur in approximately the year -25.50 in Izero. It was during an eclipse of the sun by the wandering moon, Io, which lasted for seven days. In the middle of this time of darkness, a dark figure arrived through the city gates, wearing dark robes and wielding a magical staff. He approached the Magus Council, and claimed his name to be Aziz Al-Ahmed, a master of shadow and death, and offered his services to them. They were initially reluctant, but he persuaded them that the best way to defeat the dark beings that they fought, would be to better understand them. It wasn't long before Aziz proved himself a powerful magic wielder, and soon rose to become the Magus of Darkness. As promised, Aziz aided the city in defending itself against all manner of demons and dark creatures, and helped them to understand many of the dark magic items in Izero's vaults. However, his true motive was quite different. Everybody on the Magus Council hated and feared the Heralds of Desolation, dark and powerful entities who had caused the first Desolation of Izir. Aziz, however, revered them. He wished to become like them, immortal and supremely powerful. It seems Aziz partially achieved this, as he was able to artificially extend his lifetime, remaining on the Magus Council long after other members died and were replaced. Aziz was able to commune with the spirits of the dead, though had trouble making them manifest. He had a theory that he could use dark magic to restore somebody to a facsimile of life long after they had died, allowing their spirit to inhabit their decomposing body. However, he constantly faced the barrier of the Veil between the Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm. The longer Aziz remained on the Council, the more people trusted him, and considered him an integral part of the city's government. As such, Aziz was able to manipulate events within the city, and choose who to place on the Magus Council. With allies sympathetic to his cause, Aziz was able to embark on ambitious magical projects. One of these was the creation of great magically enhanced tombs and mausoleums, that contained the runes and ritual elements to raise a person from the dead, but he still needed to break the veil for them to work. There was only one source of power that Aziz could think of with the power to break the Veil, the Heralds of Desolation. Aziz convinced the Magus Council to perform a ritual that would allow them to commune with one of these dark entities, Kroakus in particular, a dark entity with a connection to death and decay. Aziz communicated with Kroakus often, trying to convince the demon to aid him in breaking the veil. However, Kroakus was an incredibly intelligent and manipulative entity, and was able to learn more than he told. When Aziz mentioned that the Magus Council utilised many ancient magical items that they discovered within Izero, Kroakus became angered, but didn't show it, and instead told Aziz that the Heralds of Desolation would be visiting Izero to aid in his plans. The Third Desolation of Izir Kroakus and the other heralds had, of course, been the ones to create the magical items held within Izero, and they were enraged that these were being used by mortals. They decided it was time for another reckoning. The Heralds arrived at Izero, and Aziz allowed them in. They, of course, had no intention to aid Aziz at all, and instead immediately began to destroy the city. Swarms of locusts at the command of Kroakus ravaged the crops, hordes of Fahraki's vultures picked off the citizens of the city, and Skarzi's aura of madness drove the people to fight each other. After the initial attack, which ruined any forms of defense the city had, the Heralds breached the Palace of Izero, and destroyed or reclaimed its ancient magical items. They then killed and feasted upon the mages who ran the city. The Magus Council attempted to flee, but among them, only Aziz survived. Perhaps out of gratitude to Aziz for unintentionally aiding the heralds, they let him live, and didn't destroy his mausoleum. They left Izero a ruined city, and continued on their warpath, visiting Alatheen, Qaathan, Zenekar and Raqmur. In the aftermath, Izero began to slowly rebuild itself, and Aziz took control of the decimated empire. However, he was incredibly old by this point, and the desolation had taken its toll. His last act was to ensure that those who died in the Desolation were interred in his specially designed catacombs, which were mostly placed near Alatheen. When Aziz was finally found dead one morning, he was mummified and interred in a sarcophagus in his mausoleum, as per his instructions. Resurrection Over time, Aziz's mausoleum in the middle of the desert was buried in sand and forgotten. For thousands of years Aziz slowly decomposed. Until in the year 13.10, a tomb raider named Lyra Ab-Khrophte stumbled upon the ancient building. When Lyra touched one of the runes, she unwittingly activated Aziz's ancient magical rites, and he was resurrected. Immediately, Aziz was incredibly annoyed at the fact that it had taken so long. His body had decayed and almost rotted away. Nevertheless, his magic was just as strong as ever, and to prove this, Aziz immediately slew the tomb raider by withering her into a husk. However, this was long after the Veil had broken, so Aziz's theoretical necromancy could now become a reality. As an experiment, he resurrected the body of Lyra Ab-Khrophte, and she became his first undead servant. Aziz then spent many years travelling across Izir, uncovering the ancient tombs he had created and activating the rituals within, to summon a vast army of undead servants. Since Izero was inaccessible, Aziz started his new undead empire in the Valley of Monuments near Alatheen. During this time, Aziz spent a lot of time creating magical artifacts, based on the things that had been in Izero. The most infamous of these is Lichwrath, a staff capable of releasing great blasts of necromantic energy. At some point this item was lost, and acquired by Raven Blackflame. Tales of the Shattered Seas During Emilio Ventura's expedition into Hirokir, he briefly encountered Aziz at Zul'Garab. Aziz was aiding the undead champion Lazara Tamboli in his quest for true immortality. To this end, he had created a sarcophagus, inscribed with ancient dark runes. When Lazara rested in this coffin, his blood became black, and he was no longer empowered by the Spirit of Hir, but rather, some other dark force. When Emilio Ventura and Kagami Nakamura arrived at the temple, Aziz was able to stall them for long enough so that Lazara's transformation could take place. Aziz then fled, and returned to Izir. It is not clear why Aziz was aiding Lazara, or how this in any way aided his own plans. The Legends of Tyrrus In the year 20.18, Zaikerik the Betrayer expanded his influence into Izir, recruiting the Vizier-King Mahomet Al-Azah as one of his primary lieutenants, and using Alatheen to produce an army of Black Legionnaires. Aziz was not happy with this, and considered Zaikerik to be nothing but an upstart and interloper. As such, Aziz commanded his undead army, which was by now quite vast, to rise up from their tombs and reclaim the Valley of Monuments from Mahomet. He sent many undead into Alatheen itself, feral ghouls which stalked its alleyways and fought Mahomet's mercenary armies from within. After Azrik's betrayal of The Saviours, Gaius and Steiner chased down one of the carriages that was carrying his allies towards Alatheen, through the Valley of Monuments. They encountered Aziz, and were forced to flee, as he set mummy upon them and weakened them with his dark magic. Later, in Alatheen itself, the Saviours encountered Aziz beneath the city's palace. Though initially hostile, they managed to organise a temporary alliance, since both wanted to bring down Mahomet. In return, Aziz wanted the body of Mahomet, and the return of his staff, Lichwrath, currently in the possession of Ayla Vanderstone. Aziz did not accompany them himself, but sent a large group of mummified ghouls. During the showdown against Mahomet and The Jailor on the roof of the palace, these ghouls aided in slaying Mahomet's henchmen and Black Legionnaires. Afterwards, as Alatheen slowly recovered, Aziz recovered the body of the Vizier-King Mahomet, and reclaimed Lichwrath. After a brief argument with Ayla, he returned underground. The Necropolis Since then, Aziz has vastly expanded his undead empire, having risen various ancient powerful kings and queens to conquer new territory and expand the empire. Aziz even briefly controlled the city of Transcendence, aiming to use the Scendrasil for one of his many rituals, though he was defeated there by a combined army of Whyteholders and Erdannians. Unfortunately for Aziz, his undead empire has been riven by civil war in recent years, when the undead king Kukris Am-Alraq took the armies loyal to him and seceded from the empire. King Kukris then began to ally himself with the Izir Confederacy and the Erdannian Empire, in his goals to bring down Aziz's empire.